


Lockwood and Nobody

by acciopotatoes



Category: Half Life Trilogy
Genre: Gabriel is a book nerd who dresses up as Lockwood from Wuthering Heights, M/M, Nathan didn't dress up as anything he just wore black, also Rose is a subtle matchmaker, either that or she's Nathan's wingwoman, showed up to a party with the same costume AU, they just talk and have awkward conversations but IT IS THERE I TELL YOU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 07:55:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acciopotatoes/pseuds/acciopotatoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Rose is giggly and blushy but is secretly a skilled matchmaker who is scheming to get Nathan and Gabriel together, and Gabriel is a book nerd. They show up with the same costume to the same Halloween party. That's due to Rose, because she is two times as clever as anyone thinks. I don't have any particular setting for this, since I'm not British nor do I have a good grasp on British slang, meaning that American words for things abound below. However, Gabriel is still Swiss, because I chose to keep random parts of canon and totally disregard others. Based of off an AU list on tumblr, one of which was, "Oops we showed up to the same party wearing the same costume, everyone will think we came together, so what's your name?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lockwood and Nobody

**Author's Note:**

> Originally had some parts in italics but copy-paste doesn't transfer those *shakes fist at the sky*
> 
> I could (and someday will) go through and fix that, but I'm kind of in a hurry right now.

He hadn't even really wanted to go to this party anyway. Well, to be fair, he hadn't really not wanted to go; he just didn't much care for Halloween in general. They were witches, for god's sake - people were supposed to dress up as them, not the other way around. Or at least that's what everyone did in the fain movies. 

Instead, Rose was blushing and twirling around in her costume, trying to convince him to come with her. Nathan had no doubt that she could probably make him come if she really wanted to, but he knew that she thought convincing him was half the fun. 

"Please? My mom'll be there - well, not really, but I want you to meet someone, a friend of mine - and they're be all sorts of fain stuff, but not lame fain stuff, because you know how Black Witches feel about that; what I mean is the cool fain stuff, like apple bobbing and annoying techno music!" 

"Fine, fine. But I'm not dressing up."

Rose gave him a quick once-over and giggled. "You're punk rock enough that you won't need to. 'Oh, well, I don't want to go - no, I don't really not want to go. Also, who needs books and shit, let's smoke in the back alley, I'll just wear black clothes everywhere to remind everyone that I'm a Black Witch, and not say very much, and flick my hair into my face, and-'"

Nathan laughed. "Okay. I'll go. And I'll wear what I have on, and I'll meet whatever friend you want me to meet, but I swear to god if you make me socialize too much I'm gone."

"There's that punk rock showing again," Rose said affectionately. She did a final spin in front of the mirror and leaned in to check her makeup before they were gone.

 

They entered through the back door, since it was Rose's house and she knew from past parties that no one hung around the back hallway. There wasn't any alcohol there, which meant that the only traffic they got near the back were kissing couples. And even those were usually drunk enough that they were easy to bypass.

So Nathan and Rose went through the back door, but there was an unexpected exception to the rule of "no one near the back door except drunk couples". Gabriel, as Nathan would learn, was an exception to many other rules as well.

But Nathan didn't know Gabriel just yet. All he saw at first was someone wearing dark clothes in the same style as he was, and dammit, Nathan's first thought was, Great. Now one of us has to leave.

Rose, however, giggled and dragged Nathan over. "Gabriel! Hi. This is Nathan. He's a friend of mine. He's also enough of a loser that he isn't dressed up as anything, so just know that he looks this gothic all the time." Gabriel had just enough time to give Nathan a once-over before Rose started doing the introductions the other way. 

"Nathan! This is Gabriel. He's the friend I wanted you to meet. However, unlike you, he's actually sort of cool, so he's dressed up. Keep in mind, though, that he is only sort of cool, which is why he's dressed up as a character from a book. Not that there's anything wrong with books, but this is Halloween, Gabriel, get in the game." She directed this last part at Gabriel before disappearing into the party fast enough that Nathan couldn't tag along without it seeming like he was deliberately shunning Gabriel.

Dammit.

Before he could say anything - not that he would have said anything anyway - Gabriel spoke up. "Well," he announced, smiling, "Everyone will think that we came together, since, you know -" Gabriel gestured to their clothes. 

Nathan made a noncommittal noise.

"And since everyone will think we came here together, we should at least know each other's names. And, thanks to Rose, we do, but was she joking when she said that you dress like that all the time? Not that there's a problem with it. Just curious."

Nathan nodded. Feeling like he was obligated to throw in some conversation, he blurted out, "Who are you supposed to be?"

Gabriel's smile lit up. His eyes might have, too, but he was wearing sunglasses - why the hell would someone wear sunglasses to a dark, indoors party late at night? But Nathan didn't get to dwell on that for too long, because Gabriel was chattering on about books. He mentioned that Wuthering Heights was one of his favorite books, among many others, some in French. He briefly answered Nathan's question, by saying that he was Lockwood, the narrator in Wuthering Heights.

"I think he's one of the most underrated characters - well, technically he's not a character, because he's the narrator, but I've always thought that narrators count too, because their personality influences how the story is told - anyway, he's one of the most underappreciated characters, because he's such a different narrator than most books have. Usually, with a third-person limited or omniscient, the narrator might have a little personality, but typically they just tell it like it is. But with Lockwood, although we as readers don't know much about him, he still has twice the character detail as the average narrator. He gets some facts wrong sometimes, leading us readers down the wrong path occasionally, and he has a habit of shrinking into his shell in uncomfortable situations - which is why I chose all black." Even once he'd answered the original question, Gabriel went on about poetry next. Why poetry, Nathan didn't know. He also didn't much care. The longer Gabriel talked, the less Nathan would have too, and then once Gabriel had talked the conversation to a close Nathan could slip away.

"...also, Lockwood has a bit of a violent streak, as shown when he's describing using a window to cut someone, but I think that that's relatable too, because with everything going on with White Witches these days, things can get messy." 

Still talking. Now it was about a poetry anthology by some French guy. Or was it a Swiss? Nathan has studied accents a bit a while back, for use in the field for Mercury and Rose, and he was pretty sure that Gabriel had a Swiss accent with a little bit of British thrown in. 

Nathan zoned out a little, until he heard his name. "...so do you have a favorite book? Or poem?"

"A Day in the Life of Ivan. It's Russian."

"Oh? I've never heard of it. Do you read a lot, or...?"

"I-I kind of have trouble reading. I can a little, but mostly I don't."

"Well how can you have a favorite book if you can't read?"

Nathan was suddenly extremely annoyed. Rose had dragged him to this stupid party, and had left him high and dry to try and talk to this random guy who was dressed up as a narrator from a Gothic romance novel, for god's sake, and had at least a dozen favorite books, not to mention all of the poetry he'd had a one-sided discussion on - no. Forget this. 

"Well, if you can have friends the way you are, I should expect it wouldn't be too difficult to pigs to fly, much less have someone read a book to me."

Gabriel's smile dropped, but Nathan couldn't tell if he was actually hurt or not, because of those dammed sunglasses. Nathan doubted that a childish jibe by a stranger would do much to phase a field operative of Mercury, much less a friend of Rose, but a sadistic part of him wanted Gabriel to be offended. 

Why were they even at a Halloween party, anyway? They were in the middle of an all out war with White Witches, practically, and here they were dressing up as fairy tale characters and people from books, discussing literature in dark hallways. 

 

Nathan left the party, and didn't see Gabriel until the next day, when Nathan went over to Rose's apartment and ran into Gabriel at the kitchen table.

He was reading a worn copy of A Day in the Life of from the local library.

And he was still wearing sunglasses. 

He dipped his food into his coffee, Nathan noted abstractly. 

They sat at the table in absolute silence, waiting for Rose to come into the room. She did, and when she saw Nathan she shooed Gabriel out, although he complained about having to leave his coffee. 

"So," Rose declared, "Why did you leave early?"

"How," Nathan mocked her tone, "did you know I had left early?"

"Please. I know everything. I thought that we established that two weeks into our friendship. Anyway, stop trying to change the subject. Why did you leave early?"

"Why did you want me to meet Gabriel?"

"Why did you leave early right after meeting Gabriel?"

"Because he's really annoying."

Rose giggled. "I'm sure he's not annoying enough to say that about you."

Nathan looked confused. "What would he say about me?"

Rose jumped up from her chair and dramatically put her hands over her heart. "A tall, dark, stranger in all black with a handsome face swoops in and leaves, having only said a few words, yet when he leaves he leaves behind more than just an empty space in the room, but an empty space in my heart -"

She sobered again and plopped down into her chair. "Alright, so maybe those weren't his exact words. Believe it or not, he can actually be just as enigmatic as you sometimes. But, like I can with you, I can read him easily."

Nathan laughed. "You're joking."

"No, I really can read him very easily. And you."

"Not about that, about -" Nathan waved his hands in the air.

"Nope. You'll see." Rose popped her P's and bounced up out of her chair, going to drop Gabriel's mug of coffee into the sink. "He comes over in the mornings, you know," she called over her shoulder. "We have breakfast together. If you want, you can just drop by and I'm sure I can think of an excuse for both of you to be here."

Yeah, and you can probably think of an excuse to leave the room, too, Nathan thought, annoyed at what she'd pulled last night. 

Still, upon second thought, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.


End file.
